Check out this videos from the Western toad migration in Ryder Lake last summer. There are hundreds of tiny toads moving along this ~35 meter stretch of fencing towards one of the safe crossing routes. The toadlets even seem to prefer the smooth fence material for migration over the adjacent grass!

Not nearly as interesting as photos of amphibians or our staff doing cool stuff, but important never the less!

Below are links to our 2015 financial statements and the year in review presentation from our AGM last month. It was another successful year of the FVC – working with our amazing partners, funders and volunteers in our continued efforts to protect the biodiversity of the Fraser Valley. New for 2016, we once again have a formal office space in Mission. We are in the office most days, if you plan to stop by, please call first to ensure someone is there, and we aren’t out helping toads or counting snails!

Do you enjoy cold walks on rainy nights? Sign up to be an amphibian road survey volunteer!The Fraser Valley Conservancy is looking for tough volunteers to help with night time amphibian surveys as a component of our Ryder Lake Amphibian Protection Project. The objective of this survey is to determine the effectiveness of our toad tunnel and associated fencing at reducing road mortality. We will be counting live and dead amphibians along a stretch of Ryder Lake and Elk View roads in Chilliwack, BC.

Volunteers must be prepared to walk 6 km in cold, dark and wet conditions while hunting for amphibians. Surveys will start after dark and last until the survey is complete, generally 1-3 hours. You will need weather appropriate gear (rain jacket, rain pants, boots or waterproof shoes, gloves).

Unfortunately, surveys cannot be planned in advance as they are completely dependent on rainy weather. If you are interested in volunteering for this project please e-mail us and you will be added to a contact list. When it looks like conditions are going to be good (i.e. wet) an e-mail will be sent out requesting volunteers for a specific day and time. Usually this e-mail is sent the day before or sometimes the day of a survey. Unfortunately, only a small group can help each night so only the first couple of people to respond can volunteer on a given night. However, there will be lots of opportunities!

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to e-mail or call (604-625-0066).

Okay so it might not be spring quite yet…
but we want to get a head-start in our ongoing battle against the blackberry and build nest boxes for the birds, bees and bats to use this coming year!

A great group of BCIT students have been helping us with a restoration plan for our section of Windebank Creek. They are organizing a Windebank Creek Maintenance and Nest Box Building Event the morning of Saturday February 27th.
Come out and help us cut blackberry, we will be targeting the new emerging shoots, and hopefully tackling the upstream section. Plus you can help provide habitat and attract pollinators to the creek by constructing bird, bat and mason bee nesting boxes. Kids can help too!
Light snacks will be provided. This event is rain or shine so please dress appropriately for the weather and ensure you are wearing sturdy shoes or boots. We will have some supplies but please bring clippers and gloves if you have them.

This event will take place at the usual location: the dead end at the west end of Logan Street in Mission (you will see the gate to our property which lies below the mall at the Northeast corner of Lougheed and Cedar Connector).

If you can confirm you will be attending that would be great, send us a quick email to let us know so we have enough supplies on hand. If you want to just decide and show up on the day, that is fine too – the more the merrier!

A huge thank you to the awesome group of volunteers who showed up on Saturday morning and installed fencing to guide migrating frogs and toads through the new toad tunnel!

Adult frogs, salamanders, and toads are now on their annual spring migration from their forest homes to various ponds and wetlands where they will lay their eggs. The newly installed fencing will guide them to the toad tunnel which allows safe passage under Elk View road. We installed the fencing along the forest side of the road (opposite the breeding pond) to guide the animals safely through the tunnel and towards the wetland.

Digging a shallow trench in which to bury the bottom of the fencing.

Installing the stakes to support the fencing material.

Stapling the fencing material to the stakes.

We also added some fabulous compost/sand mix from Biocentral to the tunnel making it more like the natural environment.

We are looking for Volunteers to install amphibian fencing!

Saturday February 13th, 2016 from 10am – 1pm

We are currently looking for enthusiastic volunteers to help install directional amphibian fencing for our Ryder Lake Amphibian Protection Project. The amphibian crossing structure has been installed thanks to the contributions made by Lafarge Canada Ltd (more details). To ensure this crossing structure is effective, we need to install fencing that will direct amphibians towards the tunnel entrance. The adult amphibians will start migrating to the wetland for breeding in late February or early March.

The fencing will be constructed from silt fencing material attached to wooden stakes using staples or screws. This is the same type of lightweight black fabric fencing seen near construction projects. The most challenging part of this project will likely be working in wet or muddy conditions on a steep slope. Volunteers must be prepared to work in cold or wet conditions and will need work gloves.We will be onsite at the Toad Tunnel on Saturday February 13th starting at 10am. If you are interested in volunteering for this project to protect some frogs and toads please send me an e-mail to obtain further details! Snacks will be provided.If you have any questions please do not hesitate to e-mail or call (604-625-0066).

Are you a grade 11 or 12 student (or know one) in Mission, Abbotsford or Chilliwack who is interested in getting into a career in conservation biology? Did you see the Chilliwack Progress article and think this may be a great learning experience?

If so, check out this great opportunity to learn from the biologists working with the highly endangered Oregon spotted frog during Spring Break. This is a temporary paid position with the Fraser Valley Conservancy from March 14th to 25th, 2016. Full training and field gear will be provided. You do not need to have previous experience, just a willingness to learn and great enthusiasm for the outdoor environment.

In an effort to avoid having to take care of society business during the busy summer field season, we will be holding our Annual General Meeting (AGM) much earlier this year (February 16th). If you are interested in volunteering for a position on our board please email us, the board nominating committee will be meeting on January 26th and will be considering applications at that time.

Annual General Meeting

February 16, 2016 7:30 pm 33179 2nd Avenue, Mission BC

Join us at our Mission office to hear and see
what we’ve been up to this past year!

We will present information on the projects we have been working on this year.

You can meet the FVC staff, Directors, and members.

Participate in society business including election of board members.

Annual $10 membership fee will be collected at the door, guests are also welcome.

Meet and greet starts at 7:00 pm and the AGM will commence at 7:30 pm.

One of the best things about working in the conservation sector is witnessing first-hand the amazing ability of nature to rebound and the dedication of community volunteers to help out. This was reinforced to us yet again during our latest work party at Windebank Creek this past weekend…

Our fantastic group of volunteers!

This salmon bearing stream in Mission has been continually impacted by us humans: it has been diverted from its original course to create enough land to build a shopping mall; its natural channel width has been limited by land use of the surrounding landscapes; it was illegally cleared of it riparian vegetation in 2008; it regularly experiences large amounts sediment and debris washing downstream during heavy rain events which alters the stream bed; and yet, the salmon continue to return to spawn every year!

Flooding in March 2015

The entire northern end of the property became a flood plain

Most of the weirs built in 2014 were washed away as the stream created new channels

It was great to have our regular volunteers return along with lots of new faces help us clean-up our section of Windebank Creek on Saturday. We continued our battle against the blackberry which will allow the native plants to establish themselves and eventually out-compete the blackberry. This will ultimately create a more diverse riparian habitat to shade the stream and provide habitat for non-aquatic species, and we can already see areas of improvement. We repaired sections of damaged fencing and removed a pick-up truck load of garbage from the site; we are installing sensitive habitat signage in an effort to dissuade the ongoing inappropriate use of this property.

Mission Secondary Environment Team members conquer the blackberry

Fencing repairs – keeping the humans out.

Helping hands of all ages

No blackberry stands a chance against Michael and his machete!

We learned about the work the Mission of Stream Streamkeepers group has been doing monitoring the site (8 spawning Chum counted along this stream last week, and 37 the week before!).

Learning about the Mission of Streams Streamkeepers work!

A group of BCIT Ecological Restoration students have taken on the site for their project and will be doing all sorts of interesting surveys and restoration work on the site in the coming year. It is very exciting to see all the enthusiasm to help this site return to a functioning ecosystem.

BCIT students on their search to find out what kinds of salamanders might be on the site

It’s that time of year again!

We are looking for volunteers to help us clean-up our Windebank property on

Saturday November 14th from 10am to 2pm.

The salmon are currently spawning in the creek so it’s the perfect time to clear out some blackberry and observe these amazing fish! We have had some good success fighting against the blackberry over the past year but this persistent plant will just not quit. We are looking for volunteers to help remove blackberry and prune some of the native plants. We will have some gloves and extra pruners on hand but if you can bring your own that would be great. Please dress appropriately for the day – who knows what the weather will bring! The ground can be quite mucky this time of year so rubber boots are recommended. We will also be removing some garbage from the property and will have appropriate safety gear for that activity.

This fall clean-up event will take place at the usual location: the dead end at the west end of Logan Street in Mission (you will see the gate to our property which lies below the mall at the Northeast corner of Lougheed and Cedar Connector).

We will have a guest speaker at lunchtime to talk about what the fish are currently up to in the creek.

If you can confirm you will be attending that would be great, send us a quick email to let us know so we have enough supplies on hand. If you want to just decide and show up on the day, that is fine too – the more the merrier!